Colorado 2010 US Senate Race Update: Ryan Frazier’s Ascent Part II

by elpresidente | 6:19 am, March 30, 2009 | 18 Comments

A new direction for the GOP?--Ryan Frazier speaks at the March 1 Gadsden Society "Rally for Freedom"

Yesterday, SP noted that Ryan Frazier had won the straw poll at the Douglas County Lincoln Day dinner.

What we didn't know was how big.

Then we received the numbers--this was more than a plurality--it was a clear majority of attendees:

171 votes cast in straw poll....

Frazier 102 = 59.6%
Caplis 34 = 19.9%
Beauprez 22 = 12.9%
Tidwell 4 = 2.3%
Buck 9 = 5.3%

Given that the average Lincoln Day dinner is populated by GOP faithful, including operatives and activists, and not fly-by-night grassroots supporters organized by the candidate him/herself**, and also given that Douglas County isn't exactly RINO territory, this informal poll says quite a bit. Frazier has the clear ability to draw broad-based support in a fairly conservative county that will be one of the keys to any GOP victories in the state. There are many counties that will play a part in the five state wide elections in 2010 (US Senate, Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer), but how Douglas County goes, so goes . . .

Initial impressions for this race have yet to be firmly cemented, but GOP voters like what they see in Frazier--one among the next generation of GOP leadership. As mentioned yesterday the hard part will come in spreading that visibility and familiarity state wide, establishing solid policy chops, and raising the campaign dollars necessary to win.

Frazier's speech from Saturday's Lincoln Day dinner:

Previous Frazier-blogging.

**an earlier version alluded to Ron Paul's supporters, not to reflect on RP himself or his message, just the tactics of some supporters who occasionally "gamed" online or straw polls

Comments

Adam
March 30th, 2009 @ 6:28 pm

Ryan Frazier has given some great speeches and has established name recognition.

Keep an eye on Cleve Tidwell- his own speeches have been pretty inspiring and spot-on in expressing our conservative principles.

Cleve Tidwell has essentially business experience at a time when D.C. needs it most!
Ikonoclast
March 31st, 2009 @ 1:14 am

Adam, who are you trying to fool here? What’s your position in the Tidwell campaign?
Anyone who’s actually seen Tidwell speak will use just about any word OTHER than “inspiring.” Not to knock his conservative principles or business experience (whatever that may be) but you can’t win voters by putting them to sleep!
Colorado Jones
March 31st, 2009 @ 7:37 am

So where are the “inspiring and spot on” videos of Tidwell??? Wait, let me guess, there aren’t any because he put the camera to sleep, right?
John
March 31st, 2009 @ 6:00 pm

So…let me get this straight, because one person likes a candidate and you don’t, that means he has a position on the Tidwell campaign? Honestly, the 2 of you are about as intellectually honest as the Democrats right now. Your Post hoc, ergo, propter hoc attack is laughable.

I can do that too…What position do you hold on the Frazier campaign? I have seen them both speak. Yes, Mr. Frazier is a fine speaker…in fact, he is the best speaker up there. Of course, we can all say the same thing about President Obama, can’t we.

Mr. Tidwell has not given any rah rah speeches, true, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t inspiring. If you look at their backgrounds, Mr. Tidwell has more experience in making decisions and Mr. Frazier has more experience analyzing. Mr. Frazier served in the Navy doing Crypto…which is all analysis. Mr. Tidwell was Marine Recon in Nam, which is all action. We thank them both for there service.

Mr. Frazier is a politician, however. That is the weakness, in my opinion. He speaks well…but that doesn’t say anything. Clinton and Obama were amazing at speaking but they had no substance. With Frazier, I see the same quality. Great at speaking, but he hasn’t actually said anything yet. Reciting conservative talking points does not make him worthy of all your praise.

Mr. Tidwell was a CEO of several international companies. This has given him contacts in over a dozen countries. He has been in the position of making decisions for over 3 decades and has amazing leadership training according to his bio. He is also friends with Fred Thompson and several other people that are on the hill.

I would strongly urge the conservative movement to work on the intellectual honesty and pay attention to everything, not just the shiny lights and loud noises. We are supposed to be the party of logic. Please, start showing it or we will never win this back.

In conclusion (sorry for the long post), Mr. Frazier, though has my respect, does not dominate the field in any category. I respect the man very much, but I do not know how he received so many votes in the straw poll. He doesn’t haven’t the biggest name; that falls to Beauprez. he doesn’t have the most leadership and fiscal experience; that falls on Tidwell. He doesn’t have the most legal experience; that falls with Buck. He doesn’t have the most speaking experience; that falls with Caplis. These speeches, as great as they are, may have big impact at lincoln day dinners, but they will not help him when the issues are on the table. Mr. Frazier has a great PR person, but I do not believe it will help him.

Again, sorry for the long post. Remember intellect and conservative values are what is going to win the election. Good luck to the candidates.

Cheers
John
Adam
March 31st, 2009 @ 10:17 pm

Me? I’m not associated with anyone or any campaign. Besides, as it stands now, the Senate Race is still wide open since no one has filed their official intent just yet. I’m just pointing out that Tidwell and Frazier are both great speakers and, as it stands right now, they seem like viable candidates to me and several others that I have talked to within the party.
travis
March 31st, 2009 @ 10:24 pm

John, to be fair to the other two guys Adam’s comment did strike me as a transparent bit of campaigning (though claiming Adam is ON the Tidwell campaign stretches past available evidence). I don’t see anything wrong with it, though.

The problem I have with this so far four-way race is that I just know it’s going to get destructive, and that’s going to help the Democrats. The old guard GOPers are going to force Beauprez on us because he’ll pander to the social conservatives (and never mind the candidates should all be focused on fiscal conservatism and small government now) and because like Dole and McCain “it’s his turn”. The bitter primary will give lots of campaign material to Bennett’s (or Romanoff’s) campaign, just like Holtzmann’s attacks on Beauprez in 2006 did.

I hope I’m wrong, and the primary is conducted with dignity and a fiesty focus on issues that matter. I also hope that Republicans in the state (and the writers on this site) take your advice on intellectual honesty. We need it.
Ikonoclast
March 31st, 2009 @ 11:53 pm

Speaking of intellectual honesty – since you seem to have challenged mine: note that I did NOT attack Tidwell’s conservative principles or business experience (said so right there in my original post – pretty hard to miss).

My comment was solely to the assertion that Tidwell is an “inspiring” speaker – which, as anyone who’s seen him speak can attest, he is not.

Hate to break it to you, John, but “intellect and conservative values” alone are not enough to win the election – they are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition. What IS needed are candidates with the intellect, principles, values, AND ability to clearly and effectively articulate those in an inspiring, energetic matter to rouse the support of a sufficiently broad base of people.

Tidwell, Buck, Beauprez, and Frazier are all fine individuals who’ve had the opportunity to demonstrate those capabilities – and so far, judging by the reaction of both GOP faithful and the general populace, only Ryan Frazier has been able to broadly connect and knock it out of the park.
The Scarlet Letter
April 1st, 2009 @ 12:24 am

I haven’t heard Cleve Tidwell say much about his “inspiring” positions on much any issue. In fact, all I’ve heard him talk about has been his intent to run for office in 2010. First he ran around telling everyone he met he was running for Governor and then he reversed course and decided to run for Senate. Not to mention his handful of loony supporters accuse anyone who mentions his gubernatorial ambitions of lying. If you ask me, the whole thing is an ego trip and he and his supporters need to stop wasting everyone’s time.

Michael Bennet is vulnerable and this race is too important to dick around stroking Cleve Tidwell’s ego.

Oh yeah, he mentioned something about working for AIG in the past when I saw him and told everyone to “keep it on the down-low” because he doesn’t like questions about it. That’ll be helpful in a U.S. Senate race. No one in the press or Bennet’s campaign would ever connect the dots on that one…
Level Headed
April 1st, 2009 @ 8:31 am

I agree with Travis- this race is too important to make huge divides in the Republican Party.
As it stands right now, we have good several candidates interested in the Senate seat. May the best man win, whether its Tidwell, Frazier, Buck, or Caplis. And when we have a winner, we’ll all need to be fully behind them and not patching up holes we made in their candidacy by attacking them during the primary run-offs!
Jerry
April 7th, 2009 @ 8:58 pm

to The Scarlet Letter: Take it from someone who has been around politics for a long time- it’s great to get excited and passionate about politics, more people should. But be careful not to get too worked up to the point of anger. It’s not worth the headaches. Especially at the beginning of what looks to be a long primary run-off for these GOP candidates.
Furthermore, it might be useful for you to talk to Mr. Tidwell before you ‘blast’ him for his past. Yes, he did in fact perform a one year upper level management contract as a consultant for AIG. He did so in Japan, and helped Japan become one of the most successful markets for AIG. He left after a year. He also performed consulting work as a management consultant for Canon, Fuji, Ford motor co., and more. He has an extensive background and none of it is covered in the slime surrounding AIG now. If you actually speak with the guy and get to know him, you’ll know he is a sensible, smart, and professional businessman who has always done the right thing in business and his personal life. His credentials actually have probably made Bennet’s people pretty uncomfortable.

The way I see it, all our Senate candidates need to be working together, and working hard to unseat Bennet. Let’s put Bennet on the defensive and in overdrive; make him work and campaign against all of our candidates, not just one front-runner while we tear down the rest of them for him. Then, when our front-runner is decided and we, already being unified towards defeating Bennet, we will be light years ahead in the campaign game.
The Scarlet Letter
April 8th, 2009 @ 7:05 pm

Jerry, would you by any chance be the Tidwell supporter (assuming there is more than one of you) who tried to steal my username here and at the Denver Post comment sections to promote Cleve?
Jerry
April 8th, 2009 @ 9:12 pm

hmm. Scarlet Letter seems to think that anyone who would write a neutral or positive statement about Mr. Tidwell must be involved in some kind of conspiracy to steal his username.

Or maybe this is a case of mistaken identity? Or schizophrenia?

I think you have just made clear that any accusations you further level or have previously leveled are probably not to be taken seriously…

I hereby dismiss any conversations with you and will no longer be addressing you; I hope others do the same. Scarlet Letter, you are far too trigger-happy and suspicious for any good to come of it. My best wishes for you and a speedy recovery
The Scarlet Letter
April 8th, 2009 @ 10:42 pm

So I imagined this?

http://www.peoplespresscollective.org/2009/03/colorado-2010-us-senate-race-update-ryan-fraziers-ascent/comment-page-1/#comment-2062

And this?

http://neighbors.denverpost.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11954251&p=739755#p739755
T.L. James
April 8th, 2009 @ 11:08 pm

Methinks Jerry doth protest too much.

Jerry: there’s no question that it’s the same person or small group of people who are posting snippy and poorly-spelled pro-Tidwell, anti-Frazier comments here and at our contributor blogs, and appropriating the names of our contributors and commenters.

Nice try at poisoning the well in your comment above, but next time you might want to make it a little less obvious that that’s what you’re doing. Strive for subtlety.
Ikonoclast
April 9th, 2009 @ 12:24 am

Identity theft – it’s a growing problem.
However, much like the “phishing” scam E-mails purporting to be from your bank, you can usually tell the fakers by their poor grammar, spelling errors, and general lack of logical erudition.
Nice try, astroturfers…
The Scarlet Letter
April 9th, 2009 @ 12:43 am

I’m curious what the strategy behind stealing my username was. Did anyone really think that would make me less likely to say things about Tidwell? All it’s really done is made me want to dig around to find out who would have the gall and lack of common sense to do it.

Exhibit #1: an odd note on Cleve Tidwell’s Facebook profile written in the same rambling style all of his “supporters” seem to be so fond of. (I saved a copy of it and screenshots in case it disappears; you see I am bitter, crazy, and schizophrenic and am apt to do such things)

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=73192730090

Exhibit #2: Cleve himself posting on a forum talking about water-powered cars and showing all of the same tell-tale spelling errors and grammatical errors that his “supporters” keep making:

http://forums.alternative-energy-news.info/topic/180

Defense, your argument.
Steve's the name
April 14th, 2009 @ 10:59 am

why are these assumptions drawn about Tidwell supporters?

Should we also conclude that any multiple posts in favor of Frazier or any other candidate are spam posts? Should we assume that anyone in favor of Frazier is probably creating multiple user names to ‘spread the word?’

Why can’t we all play nice and get along? They’re all good candidates, and they all have, as can be seen on this blog site, tremendous and passionate grassroots support.
T.L. James
April 14th, 2009 @ 8:17 pm

No, Steve, we draw these conclusions about Tidwell supporters spamming comments because we can recognize when they’re doing it…there are telltale clues.

Praise for PPC From Our Lefty "Fan"

"Zany-ass bombast-entertainment...Hackneyed weirdo communist pseudo-nostalgia" --Alan Franklin, ProgressNow

Colorado 2010 US Senate Race Update: Ryan Frazier’s Ascent Part II

Comments

Praise for PPC From Our Lefty "Fan"

Featured Posts

Follow PPC

Search

WayIn

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Advertise Here!

Categories

Archives

Meta

Blogroll

Contributors